SAN FRANCISCO (6/19/14) Skyrocketing rents. Loss of diversity. Evictions, Google Glass wearing nouveau riche, The War on the Poor. What is The City coming to? The Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe (SFMT) opens its 55th season with RIPPLE EFFECT, a musical comedic tale of intersecting lives and cultures that reflect the familiar neighborhood tensions that are polarizing San Franciscans today.

RIPPLE EFFECT plays July 4 thru Sept. 1, 2014 throughout the Bay Area in San Francisco, the North Bay, East Bay, and Peninsula. All park shows are free and open to the public. Additional, ticketed indoor shows will be in, Point Arena and Redway. For a complete schedule and more information, the public may call 415-285-1717 or visit http://www.sfmt.org. Additional info on SFMT and community organizations is made available at information tables at each of our park shows.

Done in their characteristic quick-change, singing & dancing, Commedia dell'Arte political style, a cast of four, playing multiple characters, tell the story of three very different women, all at a critical life point, who find themselves in a boat on San Francisco Bay, brought together by chance. Although they perceive each other as “different”, each is a member of the working class and has been betrayed by a system that rewards only the few motivated solely by greed and self-interest. As they tell their stories, they discover through their failed hopes and aspirations they are more similar than they thought and are connected in ways never imagined. In solidarity, they refuse to let their home town fall into the hands of those who have no heart for it. Their actions will have a positive Ripple Effect.